Milton Keynes Council agrees 4.99% tax rise and warns of cuts
A council leader has warned of "greater challenges ahead" after his authority agreed a council tax rise of 4.99% from April.Labour's Pete Marland confirmed Milton Keynes City Council needed to impose the maximum increase possible without a referendum "just to get anywhere close to balancing the budget".He said the authority would also have to make savings of £20m to balance its books and further cuts of "at least £32m" in the next three years.Councillors also voted through plans to cut about 100 jobs, although some staff will be redeployed into new roles in adult social care or children's services.
The council has made savings of more than £200m in the last 15 years with more than two-thirds of its budget now spent on care and support for vulnerable children.The authority said it would need an extra £8m to pay for more residential placements for children with complex needs, and £6m to support vulnerable adults. The number of children being taken into care or needing support has also added over £13m to its financial pressures.The council, which has a budget of £286m, said it would continue weekly black bin collections but would introduce a charge for residents who want a second green bin.Marland said a balanced budget was "only possible because of difficult decisions taken... due to a £10m overspend in children's services and the 6% uplift in government funding from the Labour government".He said: "The cost of adult social care and children's care and temporary accommodation are rising and putting this council in a perilous financial position."He added: "We will have to rethink how many of the services are delivered by this council and the authority will not look the same in five years time, regardless of who is in charge."Liberal Democrat opposition leader Jane Carr said: "I have said many times we are in a crisis and we saw it coming. "We could have predicted it but, nevertheless, the shock when it came has derailed even our new government, leaving many councils across the country with hopes for change dashed."She added: "It is what comes next that really bothers me, for I fear it is already too late to save some of our services, particularly non-statutory."The Conservatives, lead by group leader Shazna Muzammil, voted against the budget.She claimed it "falls short of supporting our young, supporting our elderly and supporting our most vulnerable"."The financial mismanagement on display is unacceptable and comes at a significant cost to our taxpayers," she said.
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The Herald Scotland
6 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Reform and indy will be at the heart of our debate for years
Of course, by now you already know the result, so you'll know which of the following scenarios and their consequences are the most accurate. But let me start with what the national polls tell us ought to have happened, by-election peculiarities – which I'll come to – notwithstanding. The SNP should have won with around 33% of the vote, down significantly on the 46.2% it won in 2021, with Labour in a narrow second on around 28% of the vote. Reform should have come third with just under 20% of the vote, while the Conservatives should have collapsed to under 10% of the vote. The rest of the vote, around 10%, will have been split among the Greens, Liberal Democrats, and myriad minor parties and independents. But by-elections rarely work out this way, even when the national polls are accurate. Firstly, voters are more likely to have voted in protest than they are at national elections, which may well help Reform in this case. As Jamie, a service engineer from Hamilton, told a focus group run by More in Common, it's 'time to give someone else a chance,' even if he thinks Nigel Farage is an 'a***hole'. Read more by Mark McGeoghegan Secondly, turnout will likely have collapsed. In the Hamilton and Rutherglen West by-election in October 2023, turnout fell by 43% compared to the 2019 General Election. A similar decline here would see around 15,600 voters who would otherwise turn out in a national election stay at home instead. Given that voters turning out to vote Reform as a protest against both the SNP and Labour governments are likely to be more motivated than SNP and Labour voters, this may also advantage Reform. In fact, assuming predictions based on national polling would otherwise have been accurate, Reform's vote will only have to have been marginally more resilient for it to finish ahead of Labour and narrowly behind the SNP. Factor in that first peculiarity of by-election campaigns, and such a scenario is hardly far-fetched. On the eve of the by-election, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused the First Minister, John Swinney, and journalists of manufacturing Reform's competitiveness in the seat. Nothing could be further from the truth, and a Reform underperformance yesterday will have been more surprising than it coming second. It has demonstrated its strength in a succession of local by-elections, the latest of which saw it beat Labour to come second behind the SNP. Whether or not Reform came second yesterday, its performance will shape the narrative in Scottish politics going into next year's elections in conjunction with its UK-wide polling lead (it has led in 25 consecutive polls going back to the beginning of May) and strong results in recent local elections and Parliamentary by-elections in England. Ultimately, regardless of yesterday's result, the spectre of Nigel Farage looms over Scottish politics. There are three broad scenarios. Firstly, that Reform performed to its Scotland-wide polling, confirming that it is on course to win between 15 and 20 seats in next year's Scottish Parliament election. Secondly, that it did overperform, perhaps coming second, leading to the next 11 months to being dominated by the SNP seeking to present next year's elections as a choice between the SNP and Nigel Farage, and a bitter fight between Reform and Labour for status as the main challengers to the SNP. Thirdly, that it underperformed, in which case the SNP will be quick to emphasise divergence between Scottish and English politics. In any case, the SNP will use the prospect of a Reform government at Westminster to try to increase the salience of the constitutional question, attempting to return independence to the heart of the Scottish political agenda ahead of next year's elections and the following UK general election. It knows that that is its best bet for winning back pro-independence voters who have swung to Labour in recent years. Replacing Humza Yousaf with John Swinney may have stabilised the SNP's support, but the party not really recovered in any meaningful way. The longer Reform leads in UK-wide polls, the more likely that narrative will be to gain purchase among the independence-supporting electorate. Strong Reform showings in Scotland will reinforce the sense that they could win power in 2029; weak performances will emphasise the ways in which Scottish and English politics may be diverging. Both provide hooks for the SNP. The spectre of Nigel Farage looms large over Scottish politics (Image: PA) The bigger question is whether this leads to a change in the constitutional deadlock. Some recent polling suggests that support for independence may have edged up. Norstat recently recorded its first Yes leads in three years, finding Yes ahead by seven points in the wake of Reform's strong showing in the English local elections. Survation still has No ahead by two or three points, down from leads of seven or eight points a year ago. The data is not conclusive, and we should be cautious of hypotheticals around whether developments will change voters' minds – we had enough such polls around Brexit and Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister that never bore out. But the prominence of Reform UK and Nigel Farage in UK politics is a gift to the SNP and the independence movement, regardless of how they performed yesterday or how they perform north of the Border in the coming year. If Anas Sarwar is frustrated with his opponents' and the media's "obsession" with Reform UK, he should get used to that feeling – they'll be at the heart of Scottish political debate for years to come. Mark McGeoghegan is a Glasgow University researcher of nationalism and contentious politics and an Associate Member of the Centre on Constitutional Change. He can be found on BlueSky @
Scotsman
9 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Hamilton by-election result: 'Surprise' voter turn-out explained and how it compares to other polls
Polling expert says voter turn-out for the Hamilton by-election showed there was interest in the result. Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The turnout at the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election was higher than expected, with 44.2 per cent of voters casting a ballot. However, this is down 16.7 per cent on the turnout in this constituency in the 2021 Scottish election where the turnout was 60.9 per cent. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Thursday's turnout is, however, higher than the turnout in recent by-elections in the South Lanarkshire area. In the 2023 Westminster by-election for nearby Rutherglen and Hamilton West, which ultimately led to Labour's Michael Shanks being elected, the turnout was only 37.19 per cent. Nights like last night rely on so many people showing up and working hard. | Lisa Ferguson During the election campaign there seemed to be apathy amongst voters who were disillusioned with the SNP Scottish Government, the Labour UK government and the previous Conservative UK government, which many had thought would result in a low voter turnout. Polling expert Mark Diffley said the turn-out showed there was a concentration of interest in the Hamilton area on the result of this by-election. He told the BBC: 'The turnout was 44 per cent, which is higher than some of us had expected - often in these mid-term elections the turnout can be below 40 per cent. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Having been in the constituency myself, there was this word used throughout that people were scunnered', that word cropped up over and over again. 'A lot of people translated that into people staying at home, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Forty per cent is a decent turn-out and in the end it does tell us there is a concentration of interest in this campaign.' Ultimately Scottish Labour's Davy Russell was victorious after picking up 31.5 per cent of the votes.
STV News
9 minutes ago
- STV News
Scots have ‘voted for change', says Starmer following Labour's surprise win
Sir Keir Starmer has said people in Scotland have 'voted for change' following Labour's shock win in the Hamilton by-election. The Prime Minister congratulated his winning candidate Davy Russell and looked ahead to next year's Scottish Parliament election, saying it is a chance to 'turbo charge delivery'. Mr Russell took the seat vacated by the death of Scottish Government minister and SNP MSP Christina McKelvie. Posting on social media on Friday morning, Sir Keir said: 'People in Scotland have once again voted for change. 'Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border. 'I look forward to working with you.' Labour's candidate, who is the deputy lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire, beat out SNP candidate Katy Loudon – who fell to her third defeat since 2023. The win comes against the backdrop of national polls which place Scottish Labour in third place behind the SNP and Reform UK – and will undoubtedly give a boost to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar's bid to become first minister in next year's election. The Nigel Farage-led Reform UK saw a surge which took them into third place, just 800 votes away from the SNP, but fell short of expectations that they may place second. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice also reacted to the results, saying his party is 'delighted'. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'It's truly remarkable. 'We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that by-election and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it's an incredible result.' At the election count earlier, Tice told the PA news agency he was 'thrilled to bits' with the result. When the votes were counted, Russell polled 8,559, with Loudon coming second on 7,957, ahead of Reform's Ross Lambie, who secured 7,088 votes. Speaking to PA after the declaration, Sarwar said: 'I think people need to change the script, because we've proven the pollsters wrong. 'We've proven the commentators wrong, we've proven the bookies wrong. 'We've proven John Swinney wrong and so many others wrong too.' In the final weeks of the campaign, the First Minister said it was a 'two-horse race' between the SNP and Reform, but Sarwar asked what it says about a Government that has been in power for 18 years and 'all it has to offer in a campaign is vote SNP to stop Farage'. Russell had faced criticism for his perceived lack of media appearances, but Sarwar said such arguments were borne of 'an element of classism and elitism'. Speaking from the stage after his win, Russell said: 'Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse has voted tonight to take a new direction with Scottish Labour. 'Like the people here in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, and right across Scotland, we all feel we have been let down by the SNP.' The newly-minted MSP also hit out at Reform, saying the win 'sent a message to Farage and his mob tonight – the poison of Reform isn't us, it isn't Scotland and we don't want your division here'. While First Minister Swinney said Loudon had 'fought a superb SNP campaign' and that he was 'clearly disappointed' they were unable to win. 'Labour won by an absolute landslide in this area less than a year ago – we came much closer tonight, but the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have made clear that we still have work to do,' he added. 'Over the next few days, we will take time to consider the result fully.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
